Ponte Vedra homeowners get new electronic water meters

Large commercial customers to get new meters starting this week

Thousands of Ponte Vedra homeowners will have some new technology attached to the side of their homes in the coming months as St. Johns County begins work to upgrade approximately 10,000 homes and businesses with electronic water meters.

Frank Kenton, administrative manager at St. Johns County Utility Deptartment, said the replacement of large commercial meters is being scheduled this week while the replacement and upgrades of residential and smaller commercial meters should start in late September or early October and completed sometime in July 2015.

The contract for the work is held by Sensus, the largest manufacturer of water meters in the world. Utility Services Associates LLC will install the residential and small commercial meters while installation of large commercial meters will be handled by Constantine Constructors Inc.

“We’ve been discussing this since about 2012,” said Kenton of the $3.8 million project.

“About the time we were acquiring the utilities in Ponte Vedra, we started the replacement project of our existing water meters.”

The remainder of St. Johns County water meters has already been replaced to read electronically, with the main system and about 18,000 water meters swapped out beginning in 2006 when the county entered a $7 million contract with Johnson Controls.

Ponte Vedra’s new meters will connect to the city’s existing software and transmit a signal to towers that relay the data to computers at St. Johns County Utility Department.

“When Ponte Vedra is done, our entire system will have the electronic models,” Kenton said.

Previously, St. Johns County employed a touch-read system where the readings were taken with a utility worker holding an electronic wand.

“Industrywide, utilities are going to either the drive-by readings or completely electronic,” Kenton said. “It’s – for lack of a better term – the wave of the future.”

Kenton also said the county once considered employing a drive-by reading system but ultimately found that a completely electronic system was comparable in price.

This year’s project is being funded through a state revolving fund – a low-interest loan from the state – and set to be paid back from the proceeds of the system.

The county maintained that the automatic reads will be more accurate and “much safer,” as the need for utility staff to be on the road reading meters will be eliminated.

“This will allow us to keep some trucks off the street and out of neighborhoods, so there are some intangible benefits as well,” Kenton said. “There’s a potential to reduce staff, but the focus of the project is to reduce aging water meters.”

Kenton says when a meter is replaced or upgraded, homeowners can expect that it will take place between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays with an interruption of service lasting 20-30 minutes.

Homeowners don’t need to be at home for the swap, but workers will knock on doors to alert anyone in the homes that the water will be briefly disconnected.

St. Johns County notified the public that during the project, workers wearing lime green and yellow vests and operating trucks and heavy equipment might be seen in their neighborhoods.

St. Johns County officials have asked that residents with “special medical needs requiring water” notify the Utility Department by calling (904) 209-2728.